Friday, November 04, 2011

Here's a collection of articles that have caught my eye lately on the topic:

Why Strong Female Characters are Bad for Women (Warning: NSFWish historical painting included)If I had to summarize this article, it would be with the note that there's a difference between "strong, female" and "strong female". In the former the two components are distinctly separate; the character is strong, but is just female for the added sex appeal.

From the same site, there's an older post: Is Doctor Who Bad for Women?. As a huge Doctor fan, I appreciate the critique, just as I enjoy looking critically at the science in other series I watch. Critical analysis is good. The conclusion is that the Doctor's companions don't tend to be especially empowered. They're lost puppies, but then again, so is the Doctor. And I think that's the point. All characters are filled with deep flaws that make them human (despite the Doctor being not human), and that weighs far more heavily than any gendered factors. Sadly, this article quits just as Amy Pond was introduced. So far, she's my favorite companion by far, so I'd love to see what they'd think about her.

The idea that female characters need to be well rounded and have strengths and flaws is the idea of this article on how to write a kick-ass young adult heroine.

There's also a good analysis of the sexism in TV ads. I think the worst was the Dodge commercial in which a hypothetical man whines about domestic responsibilities as if they're a terrible burden that are beneath him. Poor hypothetical man.

Here's a good article on the trolling women constantly receive just by existing in public sphere. It's pretty censored, but I think it makes a clear point: The amount of gender charged insults towards women has a chilling effect on their free speech and people don't see this as a problem.